Channels in Nebula
A Nebula channel is where a goal gets done. Create a channel, see when Nebula replies, pick which agents work in it, and keep its calls and tasks together.
A channel is where a goal gets done. Its people, its agent team, its calls, tasks, apps and devices all live inside it, and Nebula, the orchestrator, runs it for you.
Apps
Tasks
AllMineWhat's inside a channel
Open a channel on desktop and the chat fills the middle. The column on the right holds three boxes: Here - everyone in the channel, the Nebula hosting them and the button that starts a call - then Apps, the channel's apps as a launcher, and Tasks, with the channel's jobs folded into its footer. On your phone the same channel is split across five icon tabs at the bottom: Chat, Tasks, Calls, Automations and Miniapps.
Agents and the channel's team
Nebula, the orchestrator, runs the channel. It can propose specialists and hand each agent the work that fits.
Calls
Talk the work through live, with Nebula on the call and a recap afterwards.
Tasks
Work handed to agents, run now, on a schedule, or when something happens.
Apps
Small tools Nebula builds for the channel, opened beside the chat.
Devices
The computers the channel's agents work on, including its default device.
Create a channel
Give each goal its own channel: a launch, an on-call rotation, a support inbox. Desktop lets you set up the channel's agents and computer while you create it. On your phone you create the channel first and add agents afterwards.
New channel
Who can see it
Everyone in the workspace can find it and join in.
What its Tasks run on
Default (workspace model)Each Task started here takes this as its own model, and keeps it. Changeable later, for the Tasks started after. Chat and Calls always run Nebula's own model.
Who's in it
Click the + beside Channels in the sidebar and choose Create a channel.
Name it, and pick its icon and colour from the square beside the name. Then choose Workspace or Private under Who can see it. A private channel can't be made public later.
Under What its Tasks run on, leave Default (workspace model) or pick a model for the channel's tasks. See Models.
Under Who's in it, add People, pick Agents for the channel's team, and choose the Computer its agents work on. Then click Create channel.
On your phone, tap + next to Channel (or Add channel at the bottom of your list), then Create channel.
Name it. Under Who can read it, choose Shared (everyone in the workspace) or Private (you and who you invite).
Pick an Icon and Colour, then tap Create Channel. To add agents afterwards, tap the faces at the top of the channel.
You can also ask for one in your Nebula DM. Say what the channel is for, whether it should be private, and what to start on. Nebula creates the channel and can kick off its first task.
Set the goal first
The first thing to do in a new channel is set its goal with the orchestrator. Click Talk in the channel's Here box (on your phone, the Calls tab or the phone button beside the message box) and talk the goal through with Nebula, or tell Nebula in the chat what the channel is for and what done looks like. Nebula can handle a one-off task itself or propose specialists for ongoing roles. If it proposes new agents, it asks you before creating them.
You don't fill in a goal field. Nebula keeps its own short note of what the channel is for, and rewrites it as the work moves on, so you can refine the goal the same way whenever the work changes. The note shows as Purpose in the channel's settings, under General on desktop, where the channel's creator or an admin can edit it, on desktop or your phone. It's also the line under the channel's name in Browse channels. Agents in the channel read it as context.
If nobody has said what a channel is for, Nebula asks once, alongside a reply, with its best guess. A channel named for its work, like quarterly-close, needs no question: Nebula notes the purpose and tells you what it noted. Later, when a task succeeds in a channel with nothing on a schedule, Nebula may offer once to run it regularly, and sets that up only if you say yes.
When Nebula replies, and when it stays quiet
Every channel is run by your workspace's one Nebula, the orchestrator. In a channel you share with other people, Nebula doesn't reply to every message. It stays quiet so people can talk to each other, and answers when something is aimed at it.
Nebula answers when you tag it, start with its name ("Nebula, …"), or reply to one of its messages. It also picks up relevant follow-up questions or requests after it answers, your answer to a question it asked, and, in a thread it's part of, any question, request or correction.
A conversation between people is left alone. A message that tags a person belongs to that person, so Nebula stays out of it. In a thread, thanks, agreement and people discussing its answer with each other don't get a reply.
Leo, did legal sign off on the pricing page copy?
Yesterday afternoon. We're clear to publish.
Nebula, pull together the ten accounts most likely to upgrade when we launch, with a reason for each.
On it. I've started a task for the upgrade shortlist and it'll report back in this thread when it's done.
Where you are changes how chatty Nebula is.
| Nebula replies to | |
|---|---|
| Your Nebula DM (Home) | Every message |
| A channel only you can read | Every message |
| A shared channel | Messages aimed at it |
| A DM between two people | Only when someone addresses it |
To reach a specialist agent instead, tag it. Only an agent on the channel's team answers a tag. The rules are on Agents and your channel's team.
Quick answers, and work that becomes a task
Nebula handles conversation, questions about past messages, quick web searches and simple lookups right there in the chat. Anything bigger becomes a task. Nebula moves it into a thread on the message that asked for it, with a task card there, so the main chat stays readable. The task keeps running while you carry on talking, and its result comes back to that thread when it's finished, as one message from the agent that did the work, with its files and links attached. Follow it on Tasks.
Post in another channel
Nebula can reach other channels for you. Ask it to share something in another channel you can post in, or to start or continue work there, and it does it as you. Say "my Home" or "my Nebula DM" to send something to your own private channel. Nebula never creates a channel this way.
Nebula, let #eng know the pricing page shipped this morning, with a link to the launch checklist.
Posted in #eng: the pricing page shipped this morning, with the launch checklist linked.
Channel settings at a glance
On desktop, click the gear (Channel settings) on the channel's own tab, beside its name. Settings opens as a tab beside the chat. Most of its sections work the way you'd expect. These are the ones specific to Nebula.
| Section | What it controls | Read more |
|---|---|---|
| General | Besides the name and icon, the channel's Purpose and the Task model its tasks run on | Models |
| Agents | Nebula plus the agents on this channel's team, + Create agent and Manage agents | Agents |
| Apps | The apps on this channel, and adding more | Apps |
| Jobs | Every job in the channel, with Run now, Pause and Delete for their owners | Tasks |
| Skills | This channel's own slash commands | Skills |
| Devices | The computers this channel's agents use, and its default | Devices |
On your phone, the gear at the top of a channel opens its settings, including Devices. Agents are one tap away on the faces beside it.
Not sure how to set a channel up? Ask Nebula. It can add agents to the team, attach a device or build an app for the channel. For bugs or feature requests, email support@nebula.gg. Nebula can help you draft the message.
Channels nobody uses archive themselves
A channel that goes 30 days with nothing happening in it is archived for you, so your list stays the ones you're actually working in. A week before that - at 23 days - everyone who might care gets a notice reading #channel will be archived in 7 days, with "Nobody has used it for over 23 days. Post in it to keep it open." If it does get archived, the notice reads #channel was archived.
Anything counts as use: a message in the channel, a reply in a thread, or a task posting into it. One post resets the clock and clears the warning.
Posting in an archived channel brings it straight back, with the threads that were put away. You can also unarchive it by hand. A channel you archive yourself stays archived - posting doesn't revive that one, because you meant it.
This only reaches shared and private channels. Your Nebula DM (Home), DMs with people and the workspace's default channel are never archived this way - and nor is a channel with a live call, a running job or a card still waiting on someone, however quiet it looks.
These notices go to your Inbox only - no email and no phone buzz, because a channel nobody has opened in a month isn't worth waking you for. Who hears about it: whoever created the channel, plus anyone who posted in the last 90 days.
Common questions
Related
Quickstart: your first channel
Create your first Nebula channel, set a bounded goal, follow its task and review the result. Learn where to find any specialists Nebula creates.
Agents and your channel's team
Create and manage specialist agents in Nebula channels. Tag agents, choose their tools and instructions, change the team and control who can use them.